Kitchen Sink Realism, the Dangers of Domesticity, Clever Monkeys and Other Wild Animals, thirtysomething Ennui, and More

Saturday, August 13, 2005

A brilliant plan. . .

On Thursday night, after Drew and Fran's back to school night (which went well - Fram has the same fabulous kindergarten teacher Drew had, and Drew's teacher seems nice), I went for a walk. I got a wild hair and started walking toward the school. In the past when I've tried to walk to the school, I've taken a different route, and it's appeared to be at least 30 minutes one way, walking fast. But the route I took last night was just a hair over 15 minutes. Even at kid pace, we should be able to do it in 30 minutes (and then I can hotfoot it home, with Alec in the stroller). So I'm going to start walking the kids to school every morning. This has a multitude of benefits:

1. Moving exercise to the morning, so I'll have more time with Adam in the evenings, and combining it with another obligation, instead of taking time away from other commitments (by the time you figure in the time I'd spend getting kids into the car, driving to the school, finding a parking place, getting Alec into his stroller, and walking Franny into the kindergarten, it shouldn't take that much longer to walk!)2. Not wasting gas (and polluting the air) driving - Drew has been very concerned about this lately and has actually asked why we drive so much instead of walking, when walking is better for us and better for the environment3. First step in teaching kids the route and getting them comfortable with walking it themselves (probably not until next year, but it's a step in that direction)4. Allow the kids to run off some energy before school5. I'm in hopes that they'll be excited by the novelty of it and it will be easier to motivate them to get out the door ::crosses fingers::

For the time being, I probably won't walk to pick them up, since it'll be upwards of 95 or 100 degrees in the afternoon. But if this goes well (and nothing's changed with our schedule) when the weather cools off I may build that into our day too.